A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS CD

The holidays are here with a full length album featuring artists from Opening Day Records performing Christmas songs both familiar and new! As the Toronto Star wrote "nothing proclaims Christmas time and festivity like the sound of brass instruments. And if those instruments are played by the members of Canadian Brass, there is even greater cause for celebration." So too does this album aptly feature the Canadian Brass, a familiar staple of the holiday season. They are the centerpiece of this joyous album from Opening Day Records which features great artists from the Opening Day family – Canadian Brass, Zoë Bentley, Giles Tomkins, Sean Kelly, Ensemble Vivant, The Beckwith Ensemble, Mary Lou Fallis & the Toronto Symphony. The title track A Very Merry Christmas, is sung by Canadian pop sensation Zoë Bentley. A major hit in Canada – this new Holiday song earned a top "Pick" in Canadian Music Network Magazine and has been an annual national Top 20 track at radio since it was released as a single in 2006 - peaking at #2 Toronto giant CHFI as well as getting heavy rotation coast to coast the last two years. Accordingly the song was the #1 “most spun” Canadian Christmas tune of 2008. This album marks the debut of this outstanding new track for US audiences. She is joined on her two tracks by Canadian Brass – and they are both winners. She channels Mariah Carey but brings her own soulful voice to the fore. Another treat is from the other end of the musical spectrum, per say. Mary Lou Fallis, the classical queen of the Canadian stage, is joined by the Victoria Scholars and the Toronto Symphony as they bring us a touch of the North with Canadian Sleigh Song - complete with sleigh bells, trumpets and jolly good fun! Finally another vocalist, bass-baritone Giles Tomkins brings a dark vocal virtuosity and lyricism to the new song When The Winter Comes by award winning song-writer Chris Dedrick. Another standout is Ensemble Vivant’s brilliant rendition of What Child is This? Pure and heartfelt, it is masterfully performed but this intimate group. Not to be left out, music from La Bell Province – Quebec – is heard. The John Beckwith Ensemble, a group specializing in the traditional music of Quebec, perform two Christmas songs. Nouvelle agréable tells of the welcome news of the arrival of the new-born Savior, while Dans cette étable delights in the holy infant child – adorable even in his ‘lowliness’.